Spread on toast, melted into pasta or incorporated into the preparation of a cake, butter is the indispensable ally of French cuisine and a staple in many French homes, with around 8 kg consumed per person per year. Tasted all year round, butter nevertheless undergoes a marked change in colour, going from yellow in summer to white in winter. We explain.
White butter in winter
If in summer the butter is a pronounced golden yellow, in winter it is much paler, almost white. No mystery, this difference in color is mainly explained by the variations in the diet of dairy cows and the carotenoid content in this diet.
In the summer, when cows have access to pastures rich in carotenoids, such as beta-carotene found in grass, their milk has a higher concentration of these pigments. Beta-carotene is a natural pigment, found in carrots, sweet potatoes and pumpkins, which gives butter its yellow to orange hue. Thus, butter produced from the milk of cows that graze in green fields during the summer will have a more intense and yellow color.
In winter, however, when cows have limited access to fresh, carotenoid-rich pastures, they are fed hay or other food sources that contain less pigment. This leads to a decrease in the carotenoid content in the milk and therefore to less yellow or even white butter.
Yellow or white butter, what are the differences?
The color of butter can be used as an indicator of its origin and production method. In fact, some producers choose to add beta-carotene to maintain a yellow color throughout the year. A golden yellow butter in winter is probably the result of industrial production, while a white butter reflects traditional manufacturing methods, as artisanal producers generally prefer to abstain from using colorings.
Although the color of butter varies from season to season, it is always rich. Yellow or white, unsalted butter contains 82% fat and semi-salted butter, 80%. Butter is also a source of vitamin A, from beta-carotene, important for vision, cell growth, immune function and skin health, vitamin D, essential for healthy bones and teeth, and vitamin E, a powerful antioxidant.
Obviously, other foods are rich in vitamins D, A or E, so don’t limit yourself to butter for your daily intake, but in reasonable doses, you have no reason to deprive yourself of this pleasure, quite the contrary.
